Article stacking arrangement



Oct. 31, 1961 w. KEILIG ARTICLE smcxmc ARRANGEMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed June 30, 1959 INVHVTOR. WOLFGANG If IL /6 ATTORNEY Oct. 31, 1961w. KElLlG ARTICLE STACKING ARRANGEMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 50,1959 INVENTOR. WOLFGANG K7L 16 TORIIEY Oct. 31, 1961 w. KEILIG 3,005,640

ARTICLE STACKING ARRANGEMENT Filed June 30, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. W01. F 6/1/1/6' KE//. /6

ATTORNEY United States Patent" 3,006,640 ARTICLE STACKING ARRANGEMENTWolfgang Keilig', Berlin-Friedman, Germany, assignor to InternationalStandard Electric Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of DelawareFiled June 30, '1959, Ser. No. 824,034 0 Claims priority, applicationGermany July 3, 1958 l 3 Claims. (Cl. 27187) Theinvention concerns anarrangement that serves to stack fiat articles, especially post lettersand cards. The prior stackingarrangements comprise an equipment by whichthe articles are delivered to the stacking place either in succession.or whilst in positions in which they overlap each other irregularly. Atthis place they collect to form a stack. The invention further concernsan arrangement from which the articles can be withdrawn either singly orin groups of overlapped pieces in order to be transferred to. aconveyor.

In the known arangements the articles are stacked on a suitable device,such as a stacking carriage, from which they must be taken by hand ifthey are to be treated by still another apparatus. This process, beingmanual is troublesome and not reliable since during the furthertransportation, the stack may be disturbed. Besides, the attendant mustbe particularly skilled in order to handle thestack carefully.Therefore, it is desirable to mechanize or automatize' the transfer ofthe stacks from the stacking arrangement to an apparatus for furthertreatrneut of the articles, and the invention is to indicate a way ofhow to achieve this. In postal service, for which the arrangementaccording' to the invention is intended particularly, the letters orother such mail are rearranged by automatic appliances and are thenconveyed to a station at which they are further to be treated. By theappliance for rearranging the letters these are supplied to a stackingequipment'whence the entire stack shall be passed on, for example, to adevice by which the letters, having to be sorted, shall be given theproper position for reading their destinations, or for ascertainingthese in an electromechanical way. An instantaneous transition from thestacking equipment to this positioning device is' in many cases notdesirable since the working capacities of these arrangements aredifferent from one another. Thus, either several such'arrangements mustbe provided for parallel- 7 operation, orthe stacked articles mustbeheld back till the next following plant be able to deal with thefurther treatment.

According to the invention the articles are collected in stacks by acontainer which preferably is entirely open on one longitudinal side andinto which there project during the stacking process the means (stackingbelts) for supplying the articles to the container as well as the means(stacking carriage) for collecting the articles, and from which thiscontainer can be detached after the stacking process has been finished.Similarly, the means for removing the stacked articles and separatingthem from each other likewise project into the container, which, withthe stack in it, can be conveyed from the stacking equipment to theremoving and separating means by the aid of any suitable conveyor. In aface wall of the container a recess may be provided through which thesupply means or stacking belts extend.

Stacking equipments operating vertically as well as stacking equipmentsworking horizontally are known. The invention contemplates both of thesetwo possibilities.

The container when being either loaded or cleared is in a position inwhich the said open longitudinal side thereof is in a plane transverseof the directions in which "ice the stacker and the removing device act.In most instances this plane is vertical so that for transportation thecontainer must be tilted through in order that the articles may not fallout of it. The transportation is accomplished by means of beltconveyors. In order to automatically find the place at which thecontainer is further to be handled the container has destination marks,either fixed or adjustable, which in well known manner serve to controlor adjust the path of conveyance.

The rear wall of the stacking carriage is displaceable in order that itmay be possible for the loaded container to be inserted over such acarriage in order to have the stacked articles separated from eachother. The bottom of the stacking carriage engages with the container insuch a manner that when the container with the stack in it is insertedover such a carriage, now employed as a clearing device, the bottom ofthe carriage comes to intervene between the stack and a side wall of thecontainer. To facilitate this action, that sidewall is formed withantifriction ribs.

The invention will now be explained by way of example with the aid ofthe drawings, in which FIG. 1 shows the arrangement for stacking in ahorizontal direction into a container provided at the outlet end of aconveyor;

FIG. 2 the same arrangement as viewed in the direction of the arrow inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an arrangement similar to that in FIGS. 1 and 2 but in whichthe stacking is accomplished in a vertical direction;

FIG. 4 is a container suitable for use in connection with the invention;and

FIG. 5 illustrates this container as carried on a conveyor leading fromthe stacking equipment to a place for further treatment.

Refering now to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a stacking system in whicharticles, such as letters 1, are conveyed edgewise by a vertical beltsystem indicated generally at 2, toward a stacking station 3. Edgewiseconveyance of flat articles is well known from the prior art and,therefore, the system is not further described in that respect. The beltsystem 2 delivers letters to a stacking belt system 4 and which beltsystem 4 rotates about the pulleys 4a, 4b and 40, as shown in FIG. 1.These pulleys are mounted vertically on the top surface of the stackingstation 3, as shown. The stacking station also includes a movablecarriage 5, which carriage is adapted to move in a direction transverseto the direction of the belt system 4, which direction is opposite tothe direction of the heavy arrow in FIG. 1. The carriage 5 has avertical fixed retaining portion 8, shown clearly in FIG. 1, and hasanother vertical movable portion 7 situated transverse' to the portion8.

Special containers are provided for the actual receipt of conveyeditems, indicated generally at 6. The container 6 is shown in detail inFIG. 4 and will be seen to consist of a rectangular shaped box havingfive sides. There are two small dimension sides 62 and 6r opposite eachother. The side 6r is provided with a slot 12 extending down the middleof it. The upper portion of the side is cut away, as shown. The bottomof the box is indicated at 6b and has a recess cut therein indicated at6br, and which recess is a continuation of the slot 12 but normalthereto. The bottom of the box 6b is provided with a sub-base 6sbattached to it by suitable spacers 6s. The space defined between thesub-base 6sb and the bottom 6b is adapted to receive the turned overlips of the element 8, which is afiixed to the station 3, as shown inFIG. 1. The side 6w is provided with a plurality of spaced parallel ribs14 whose function will be later described. The side 61; of the box isprovided with end, namely, on its end 6e.

ings may be magnetic or mechanical elements useful in automaticallyrouting a container 6, after it is filled and is transported by aconveyorsystem. In FIG. 5 there is shown a scanning device 17, which isadapted to scan the destination elements 15. Switching elements, notshown, are controlled by the scanning device 17 to control thedestination of the container 6. Such switching elements are well knownand constitute no part of this invention.-

In operation the container 6'is caused to lie on its side 6w as shown inFIG. 1. The width of the aperture 12 is such that the belt system 4 mayextend therethrough and thereby communicate with the interior of thecontainer. In order to place the container '6 on the carriage, thecontiner is rnoved on to the carriagein' the direction of the heavyarrow so that the edges of the element 8 grip the sub-base 6sb, asshown. Thereafter, the movable element I 7 is moved within the container6. FIG. 1 shows the element 7'fu1ly engaged within the container 6.Letters 1 are carried in a vertical position by the belt system 4 intothe container 6. During the time that the container 6 is being loadedwith letters 1, the carriage 5 is urged away from the belt system 4 bythe growing stack of envelopes. After having been completely loaded, thecarriage is in the final position of its motion away from belts 4. FIG.'1 discloses the carriage in such final position. The element 7 acts as amovable stop to the increasing stack of letters growing within thecontainer 6. Elementfl7 maintains the letters in the vertical position.

In the showing of FIGS. 1 and 2, the letters are stacked in a horizontalposition. In the arrangement shown in FIG. 3 they are shown beingstacked in a vertical direction; In FIG. 3, the container 6 is shownstanding on The container is positioned on a stacking device 9 and whichdevice may include a stacking element 11 which'operates in the nature ofa downwardly descending elevator. Theelement 11 is retained in itsuppermost position, as shown in FIG. 3, by spring tension means (notshown) and the increasing weight of letters delivered to the elevatorsection 11 by the conveyor system 10, will cause the elevator section 11to move downwardly until it ultimately reaches the inside surface ofthe, end 62 of the container. Since the elevator element '11 is tapered,the container 6e can be readily removed and all the letters therein willbe uniformly stacked. The elevator element 11 moves down repair oftracks (not shown)'on opposite sides'of the stacking device 9. 7 V

Returning to FIG. 1, when the container 6 is filled arrow to bedisengaged from the turned-over edges of the element 8. Thereupon thefilled container 6 may be placed on a conveyor system, such as 16, shownon FIG. 5, to be transferred to further processing equipment, not shown.It may be arranged that while thecontainer 6 is being removed from thecarriage 5, that arriving letters 1 may be automatically led to anotherstacker (not shown) for parallel operation.

V The process for unloading a-filled container 6 is, in a sense, thereverse of a loading process. The container is again placed on acarriage so as to engage the turned over edges of the element 8 and themovable element 7 is placed within the container and lies between theside 6e and the last stacked letter 1. V

The ribs 14 facilitate the movementof the envelopes 1 into the containersince they present a small friction surface to the edges of theenvelopes.

While I have described'above the principles of my invention inconnection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood thatthis description is made only by way of example and not as a limitationto the scope of my invention, as set forth in the objects thereof and inthe accompanying claims.

What is claimed is: v I

1. "An arrangement tostack flat articles, comprising in combination, astacking station, a movable 'belt for successively delivering saidarticles to said stacking station, a rnovable'carriage and means forslidably supporting it on said station for movement in a directionnormal to the direction of movement of said belt, a removable stackingcontainer having a base and a side out complementary to said belt, meansfor mounting said container on said stacking station with the sideparallel to the plane of the face of said belt and encompassing saidbelt whereby said belt communicates'with the interior of said container,and said carriage including a portion extending within said containerand movable with said carriage to provide'a backstop for articlesdelivered within said container bysaid movable belt. 2. An arrangementas claimed in claim 1, wherein. said container has a sub'base spacedfrom its base, the container mounting means comprising a retainingelement fixed to said stacking station and adapted to fit within thespace between said base and said sub-base.

Y 3. An arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein. said container isprovided with destination characteristic markt ings onone side thereof.

with the envelopes 1, the sliding element 7 is retracted from theinterior of the container 6 and the container 7 References Cited in thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

